A rather dramatic month in the Irish racing world produced its biggest surprise of all last Friday when it emerged that Bryan Cooper has lost his position as retained number one jockey to Gigginstown House Stud.

In equally dramatic circumstances Cooper replaced Davy Russell in the position in January 2014 but this time around Gigginstown have stated that they will instead operate without a retained rider for the coming season.

Davy Russell, Jack Kennedy and Sean Flanagan will all profit from the new arrangement while indications are that Gigginstown will still be calling on Cooper’s services.

Over the course of his three and a half year position in the job Cooper rode some 28 Grade 1 winners for the operation with the obvious high point being Don Cossack’s never to be forgotten Gold Cup triumph in 2016.

During that time the jockey also had to deal with more than his share of injury tribulations, notably a horrific broken leg at Cheltenham in March 2014.

Major blow

Unquestionably last Friday’s news will be a major blow to Cooper. However he can take heart from how his predecessor, Davy Russell, bounced back splendidly from losing the Gigginstown job and rode two Cheltenham winners for the operation less than three months later.

It cannot be forgotten Cooper displayed prodigious potential to land the Gigginstown job over three and a half years ago and it is those talents that will stand to him as he looks to bounce back from this setback.